Jail for mastermind of scheme that duped banks into disbursing over $13m

The director of a firm that dealt with electrical items submitted fictitious invoices and deceived three banks into disbursing more than $13 million.

The prosecution said that Robby Ong Chee Keong, who was then working for Lifeforce Electric (LEPL), was the mastermind behind the ruse and he committed the offences from 2012 to 2018.

The company, which was incorporated in March 2008, wound up in March 2019.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Yu Hui told the court that even though most of the monies were repaid, there remains an unrecovered amount of more than $425,000.

The prosecution also said that there was a lack of evidence that Robby Ong, 50, profited from the scams.

On Jan 26, he was sentenced to three years and eight months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of cheating. Another 16 similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

According to court documents, he committed the offences with three alleged accomplices – Mr Ong Lea Meng, Mr Sim Beng Chwee and Mr Chan Lip San.

At the time, Mr Ong Lea Meng was the director of a firm called Elmag, while Mr Chan was the director of another company called Lifttech Corporation.

The prosecutor said that Mr Sim was then the sole proprietor of a fourth firm called DS Systems & Trading (DSST).

In 2012, Robby Ong decided to inflate LEPL’s turnover to attract investors. However, the firm was facing cash flow issues at the time.

He then hatched a plan in which he submitted fraudulent documents to banks to apply for trade financing for purported purchases of goods. The banks included OCBC, UOB and DBS.

Robby Ong would then use the loan proceeds to support LEPL’s operations instead of genuinely paying for goods.

The DPP said that he roped in the three other men in the fraudulent scheme.

For the cases involving Mr Ong Lea Meng and Mr Chan, court documents stated that Robby Ong would get the pair to issue invoices through their own firms to LEPL, to make it appear as though LEPL had bought goods from them.

DPP Lim said: “The quantum would be decided by (Robby Ong) depending on how much money he needed for LEPL’s operational needs. The accused submitted the invoices and applied to the various banks for trade financing facilities.”

The prosecutor told the court that the banks would then make payments to the firms linked to Mr Ong Lea Meng and Mr Chan.

Once the pair’s companies received the funds, LEPL would issue invoices to them, making them appear like genuine purchases so that the two men’s firms could transfer funds to LEPL, said the DPP.

Referring to Mr Sim as “Darren”, the prosecutor added: “The arrangement between the accused and Darren is the same...save that the accused would prepare some of DSST’s invoices himself as Darren had e-mailed a soft copy of the invoice to him previously.

“The accused would also sign on Darren’s behalf on those DSST’s invoices which he prepared.”

The court heard that there were no actual sale or movement of goods between LEPL and the trio’s companies.

In June 2019, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) started an investigation into LEPL over tax offences which were not disclosed in court documents.

An Iras tax investigator then found that mutual invoices had been exchanged between the firms but no physical goods were involved, said DPP Lim.

She alerted the Commercial Affairs Department in February 2020.

On Jan 26, Robby Ong’s bail was set at $50,000 and he was ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on Feb 20 to begin his jail term.

For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.